Dahcotah eBook

When the gentle breeze would play among the prairie
flowers, then would she win him from such bitter thoughts.
“Come, my brother, we will go and sit by the
banks of the lake, why should you be unhappy! the buffalo
is still to be found upon our hunting-grounds—­the
spirit of the lake watches over us—­we shall
not want for food.”

He would go, because she asked him. The quiet
and beauty of nature were not for him; rather would
he have stood alone when the storm held its sway;
when the darkness was only relieved by the flash that
laid the tall trees of the forest low; when the thunder
bird clapped her wings as she swept through the clouds
above him. But could he refuse to be happy when
Wenona smiled? Alas! that her gentle spirit should
not always have been near to soften his!

But as the beauty and warmth of summer passed away,
so did Wenona’s strength begin to fail; the
autumn wind, that swept rudely over the prairie flowers,
so that they could not lift their heads above the tall
grass, seemed to pass in anger over the wigwam of the
old man—­for the eye of the Dahcotah maiden
was losing its brightness, and her step was less firm,
as she wandered with her brother in her native woods.
Vainly did the medicine men practice their cherished
rites—­the Great Spirit had called—­and
who could refuse to hear his voice? she faded with
the leaves—­and the cries of the mourners
were answered by the wailing winds, as they sang her
requiem.

A few months passed away, and her brother was alone.
The winter that followed his sister’s death,
was a severe one. The mother had never been strong,
and she soon followed her daughter—­while
the father’s age unfitted him to contend with
sorrow, infirmity, and want.

Spring returned, but winter had settled on the heart
of the young Sisseton; she was gone who alone could
drive away the shadow from his brow, what wonder then
that his countenance should always be stern. The
Indians called him Eta Keazah, or Sullen Face.

But after the lapse of years, the boy, who brooded
over the wrongs of his father, eagerly seeks an opportunity
to avenge his own. His sister has never been
forgotten; but he remembers her as we do a beautiful
dream; and she is the spirit that hovers round him
while his eyes are closed in sleep.

But there are others who hold a place in his heart.
His wife is always ready to receive him with a welcome,
and his young son calls upon him to teach him to send
the arrow to the heart of the buffalo. But the
sufferings of his tribe, from want of food and other
privations, are ever before his eyes. Vengeance
upon the white man, who has caused them!

CHAPTER II.

Winter is the season of trial for the Sioux, especially
for the women and children. The incursions of
the English half-breeds and Cree Indians, into the
Sisseton country, have caused their buffalo to recede,
and so little other game is to be found, that indescribable
sufferings are endured every winter by the Sissetons.